Charles Dickens letter after Coventry visit to go under the hammer

The letter is written from Charles Dickens to the Coventry MP Sir Joseph Paxton

A letter from Charles Dickens following a visit to Coventry is expected to fetch more than £4,000 at auction.

The letter, written in December 1858 to Sir Joseph Paxton, is to go under the hammer at Christie's.

It follows Christmas dinner held in Dickens' honour to mark his reading of A Christmas Carol to benefit the Coventry Institute.

The lot is among items in a valuable books and manuscripts sale at the London auction house on 15 December.

Charles Dickens is regarded as one of the most important writers of the 19th Century

In the letter to Sir Joseph, who was MP for Coventry but best known for designing Crystal Palace, the Victorian author recounts the events of the evening.

It followed one of a series of readings of his novels A Christmas Carol and The Cricket on the Hearth which he held to raise money for good causes in 1858, Christie's said.